Releasable buckle for strapped loads



March 25, 1969 s. RENNERT 3,434,135

RELEASABLE BUCKLE FOR STRAPPED LOADS Filed Aug. 10. 1966 Sheet of 2 F I 3 STANLEY RENNERT INVENTOR.

Attorney March 25, 1969 s. RENNERT 3,434,186

RELEASABLE BUCKLE F0?! STRAPPED LOADS Filed Aug. 10. 1966 Sheet 3 of 2 FIG. 6

STANLEY RENNERT INVENTOR.

. BY g RM Attorney United States Patent Oflice 3,434,186 RELEASABLE BUCKLE FOR STRAPPED LOADS Stanley Rennert, The Rennert Company, 91-97 Greene St., New York, NY. 10012 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 439,025, Mar. 11, 1965. This application Aug. 10, 1966, Ser.

Int. Cl. A44b 11/12 uIs. Cl. 24-191 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 439,025 filed Mar. 11, 1965 and now abandoned.

My present invention relates to a quick-release buckle adapted to be used for the tightening of belts or straps around goods to be stored or transported, such as the cargoes of freight cars or trucks.

An important object of this invention is to provide a buckle of this character which is of compact construction and shaped to lie flat against the load surface, in line with the adjoining strap ends, so as not to form a dangerous projection on a moving vehicle.

Another object of my invention is to provide a buckle of this type which can be rapidly and easily released by an operator but will not spontaneously open in response to the stress of the strap to which it is anchored.

A further object of this invention is to provide a buckle designed to engage an associated woven strap with a minimum of Wear of the textile material due to its contact with the metallic parts of the buckle.

The foregoing objectives are realized, in accordance with my instant invention, by the provision of a buckle having a generally U-shaped frame with upstanding arms spanned by three transverse members, i.e., an anchor member adapted to have an end of a strap wound about it, a retaining member positioned to hold down the short upper flap of a strap portion wound around the anchor pin, and a pivot pin intermediate the other two members, a locking element being swingably mounted on the pivot pin for contact of a strap-engaging camming surface thereof with the aforementioned flap in a manner preventing withdrawal of that flap around its anchor memher. For this purpose the strap-engaging cam surface, in its operating position, converges toward the frame bottom in the general direction of the anchor member (preferably formed integral with that bottom) so as not to be swingable past a predetermined limiting position. The presence of the retaining member in front of the locking element, less elevated than the pivot pin above the frame bottom, prevents any accidental release of the buckle by a pull on the flap and also protects this flap from untimely contact with the roughened work surface of the locking element.

Pursuant to another feature of my invention, the roughened surface of the strap-engaging cam portion of the locking element is formed with an array of closely juxtaposed teeth, substantially conforming to the interstices of the weave of the associated strap so as to penetrate into these interstices and hold the strap with a minimum of damage to the fibers.

3,434,186 Patented Mar. 25, 1969 The above and other objects of my invention will become more readily apparent from the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a side-elevational view of a releasable buckle according to my invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the buckle of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on the line III- III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken on the line IV- IV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4, showing a modification; and

FIG. 6 is a detail view taken on the line VI--VI of FIG. 4.

The buckle shown in the drawing comprises a generally U-shaped frame 10 with upstanding arms 10a, 101) which are spanned by three parallel elongated members 11, 12 and 13, the latter two members having the shape of pins. The central portion of the bottom of frame 10 is designed as a slightly elevated bridge 10c integral with member 11, formed as an upturned extension thereof, and overlying a strap portion 21 which is wound around the anchor member 11 and terminates in a loose upper flap 21a held down by retaining; pin 13, disposed below the level of pin 12. Another strap portion 22, which may or may not be integral with strap portion 21, is looped around a brace 10d also forming part of the bottom of frame 10. A similar brace 10e, spaced from bridge 10c, underlies the strap portion 21.

A locking element 14 is swingably mounted on pivot pin 12, this element having a cam-shaped working surface 14a and a handle 14!) projecting above the sidewalls 10a, 10b of frame 10. The working surface 14a, as best seen in FIGS. 4 and 6, is formed with an array of small teeth corresponding to the pattern of the textile weave of flap 21a, these teeth thus penetrating into the interstices of the pattern to engage the flap 21:: with a minimum of wear while clamping it against the bridge 10c. It will be noted that, in the operative position of locking element 14 illustrated in full lines in FIG. 3, surface 14a and the top face of bridge 10c converge toward the right, i.e., in the general direction of the anchor part 11, the point of closest approach between these converging surfaces lying to the left of pivot pin 12 whereby a further counterclockwise swing of locking element 14- is prevented by the thickness of the intervening flap 21a. At the same time, the flap 21a, responding to the tension of strap portion 21 (which together with strap portion 22 is assumed to be wound under stress around a load not shown), tends to entrain the element 14 in this counterclockwise sense so that the flap 21a is clamped ever more firmly between bridge 10c and locking surface 14a.

In its released position, illustrated in dot-dash lines in FIG. 3, the handle 14b of the locking element bears upon a stud 15 (shown in phantom outline in FIG. 3) which projects inwardly from sidewall 10b to limit the opening movement of the locking element. In this released position, pin 13 prevents the flap 21a from contacting the element 14 anywhere except along a rounded rear edge 14c thereof so that the teeth of working surface 14a will not tangle with the fabric during withdrawal of strap portion 21 from the buckle 10; for this purpose, pin 13 is located outside the arc A, centered on pivot 12, which the roughened surface 14a describes in swinging between the two positions.

A coil spring 16, shown in FIG. 4, surrounds the pivot pin 12 and is anchored to this pin as well as to the locking element 14 for the purpose of biasing, the latter toward its strap-engaging position; to immobilize the pin 12 with reference to the frame 10, this pin, in the embodiment of FIGS. 1-4, is shown provided with a polygonal head 12a received in a complementary aperture of the sidewall 10a and bearing laterally upon the element 1 4, the opposite end of the pin being anchored to side-wall 10b by suitable fastening means here shown as a spring clip 12b.

In an alternate construction, illustrated in FIG. 5, a modified pivot pin 12' has its hexagonal head 12a and its opposite end 12b peened over to engage the corresponding sidewalls.

If the elements 21 and 22 are not opposite extremities of a single strap, they need not be identical so that strap portion 22 might have a texture different from that of clamping surface 14a (or possibly no texture at all). Naturally, several such buckles could be connected in cascade on a single strap assembly, the presence of springs 16 insuring that the buckle 'will not slide off the associated strap portions even when the latter are not tensioned. Structural modifications of the devices described and illustrated (e.-g., in regard to the attachment of pin 12 to frame 10) are, of course, possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the present improvement.

I claim:

1. A releasable buckle for the connection of two strap ends, comprising a generally U-shaped frame with a bottom and a pair of upstanding arms, a first member, a second member and a third member extending parallel to said bottom and bridging said arms, said second memher being located intermediate said first and third mem bers, and a locking element pivotally mounted on said second member for clamping engagement with an extremity of a strap looped around said bottom and said first member, said extremity resting on said bottom, said third member being less elevated above said bottom than said second member for holding down the loose end of the strap extremity thus engaged; said locking element having a roughened strap-engaging cam surface converging toward said bottom, in the general direction of said first member, in an operative position of said element; said third member being positioned near said bottom outside the arc of swing of said cam surface between said operative position and a released position to maintain said loose end out of contact with said toothed pattern in the released position of said element, said first member being elevated above said bottom by a distance which exceeds the spacing of said bottom from said arc of swing but is less than the elevation of said third member above said bottom.

2. A buckle as defined in claim 1, further comprising spring means anchored to said frame and said element for biasing the latter toward said operative position.

3. A buckle as defined in claim 1 wherein said first member is an integral extension of said bottom.

4. A buckle as defined in claim 1 wherein said cam surface has a toothed pattern merging into a smooth edge confronting said first member.

5. The combination of a buckle as defined in claim 4 with a textile strap having a weave substantially corresponding to said toothed pattern whereby the teeth of said pattern fit into the interstices of said weave.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 418,555 12/1889 Dow 24134 1,190,449 7/1916 Olson 24134 2,442,266 5/1948 Davis 248-361 2,622,293 12/1952 Wermlinger .r 2417() 2,751,656 6/1956 Noe 24170 3,344,486 10/1967 Evelana 24l91 X FOREIGN PATENTS 774,248 9/ 1934 France.

BERNARD A. GELAK, Primary Examiner. 

